Bruce Redux

Victoria, B.C. musician David Kosub writes a smart essay on "Back Road Farm" by Nova Scotia's major poet-in-waiting Charles Bruce (1906-1971). He calls it "an achievement in sound and structure that younger or even more established poets might pay attention to or perhaps even emulate." Back in 2003, Sandy Shreve took a look at Bruce's other distinguished poem "Biography."

I'd like to think I had a small part to play in the reappraisal Bruce's career is getting. In 2002, I published a long essay on his work -- the first to appear in nearly 15 years -- for Books in Canada (later collected in my book of criticism, A Lover's Quarrel).

I'll be editing a Charles Bruce Reader (which, along with his poems, will include selected essays and letters) for release in late 2011. Here's a look at more of his poetry.